Clearing in the Wild
A Novel
Change and Cherish Series
- By: Jane Kirkpatrick & Kirsten Potter
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hours 11 minutes
Description
Young Emma Wagner chafes at the constraints of Bethel colony, an 1850s religious community in Missouri that is determined to remain untainted by the concerns of the world. A passionate and independent thinker, she resents the limitations placed on women, who are expected to serve in quiet submission. In a community where dissent of any form is discouraged, Emma finds it difficult to rein in her tongue--and often doesn't even try to do so, fueling the animosity between her and the colony's charismatic and increasingly Autocratic leader, Wilhelm Keil. Eventually Emma and her husband, Christian, are sent along with eight other men to scout out a new location in the northwest where the Bethelites can prepare to await "the last days." Christian believes they've found the ideal situation in Washington territory, but when Keil arrives with the rest of the community, he rejects Christian's choice in favor of moving to Oregon. Emma pushes her husband to take this opportunity to break away from the group, but her longed-for influence brings unexpected consequences. As she seeks refuge for her wounded faith, she learns that her passionate nature can be her greatest strength--if she can harness it effectively.
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Change and Cherish Series Series

Mending at the Edge
By: Jane Kirkpatrick & Potter Kirsten
Narrated by: Potter Kirsten
Length: 13 hours 15 minutes
Abridged: No
So begins this story of one woman's restoration from personal grief to the meaning of community. Based on the life of German-American Emma Wagner Giesy, the only woman sent to the Oregon Territory in the 1850s to help found a communal society, award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick shows how landscape, relationships, spirituality and artistry... Read more »
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Clearing in the Wild
By: Jane Kirkpatrick & Kirsten Potter
Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
Length: 11 hours 11 minutes
Abridged: No
Young Emma Wagner chafes at the constraints of Bethel colony, an 1850s religious community in Missouri that is determined to remain untainted by the concerns of the world. A passionate and independent thinker, she resents the limitations placed on women, who are expected to serve in quiet submission. In a community where dissent of any form is... Read more »
Learn more
Tendering in the Storm
By: Jane Kirkpatrick & Kirsten Potter
Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
Length: 11 hours 57 minutes
Abridged: No
In Book Two of the Change and Cherish series, Emma Giesy is married and the mother of two. She's strong-willed and smart. Despite the odds, she and her husband branch off from a religious community of the 1850s to work and live independently in the remote coastal forest of the Washington Territory, surrounded by her husband's family rather than... Read more »
Learn more